last times...

Over the past year, every time I would leave our house and drive down the road I'd think to myself and wonder, how many more times will I do this?  What will it be like when I drive away for the last time?

My life lately has been full of "last times".

This is the last time I'll shop at my local ShopRite.
...the last time I'll drive down this road
...the last time I'll see people at Grace or Preakness
...the last time I'll wake up in my Flanders home
...the last time I'll ever see that house again
...the last time I'll drive through the Delaware Water Gap

I could go on...

The picture above is one I took the last time I slept there in NJ while we were sleeping on the mattress on the floor in the living room.  I was lying there and I wanted to remember that moment.  That is a painting hanging on the wall in our living room.  We didn't take it down because it was too much trouble to go get a big ladder with all the other work we had to do to get packed up in time.  So, it's still there, we left it for the buyers.  That is the last thing I saw when I went to sleep - the last time I slept in NJ.

The last of all our possessions (which we have too many of) are all sitting on a truck somewhere in America... not exactly sure when it arrives at our new home but we'll try to be as ready as we can when it gets there.  As for us, we will be arriving there later today to start our new lives as Pure Michiganders.

I'm no longer a Jersey girl...

By the way, our buyers for the house have gone MIA.  Whether or not the sale will be finalized is now a mystery, considering we should have closed on it yesterday.  That's as far as my mind can go on that.  It's too big for me.  It's a God-sized issue... and He's gonna have to deal with it.  Thankful that He does!  He's so faithful when we can't see what tomorrow brings.

a fond farewell

the beautiful ice cream cake that I only had 1 teeny piece of and had to gobble it down in a mouth-freezing frenzy so I could get back and help load the trailer 

Pastor Karl

Paula

Ashlynn

Larry

a lovely slideshow of memories

almost the whole church turned out

Lori, Marthanne, Melissa 

Lori picked the verse

the 2 Wendys

Wendy B

Danielle

These are some of the gifts, that I now have packed in my car...

I think someone knows I love to sing...haha

for the burry cold Michigan weather

a lovely framed picture from the church with personal notes on the back - so nice!

It was a beautiful farewell luncheon at Preakness!  So many years, and so many memories... and they all come to a screeching halt at one afternoon celebration.  I won't even begin to elaborate on the many realms of emotions running through me as I drove away from the church on Sunday, thinking perhaps I'd never see most of those people again until we meet again in heaven.  Sad indeed, but my life is better for having known them.  I hope at least some of them can come visit me in Michigan.

I will miss many of the things I've come to know over the past years there... but I know that God is taking me to a new place of new experiences.  I am ready for these changes, even though they don't come without a deep level of pain.

loading the monster truck

too much stuff!!

how to get the go-kart in there

we finally got the lawn mower up in there!! 

a make-shift ramp out of a ladder

Darryl sold his Kubota... made enough money to pay for 1/3 of the septic...

Did I mention this was not a fun experience?  It's over now, but I think Darryl and I are still having nightmares over it.

Some friends from Grace came over a few of days in a row, and they really saved our butts!!  If they hadn't been there, we'd still be there trying to get that monster truck loaded up.  I've never seen a handful of people work so hard to get something done!!   Thank God for them!!  I can't even begin to tell you how big of a job this was for us.

Josh's genius got the king size bed up there!  

packing the house

we had to hire a crew to come in and help move the heavy stuff

they didn't speak much English

packing is not fun

packing, bending, lifting is hard on the old body

we slept in the living room the last few night because our bed was packed in the truck

We've learned some lessons (I hope) along the way.

1. Do not accumulate "stuff"
2. If you have stuff, GET RID OF IT
3. If you ever decide to move, pack way ahead of time!

the septic saga scam

new leach field

the money pit

all this for nothing

one of our final looks of our NJ home

the front yard and landscaping is completely gone

Trucks, trailers, machinery of all sorts

NJ has got to be the scammiest state of all.  It's the place where NJ residents are forced into getting new septic systems even when their old ones have worked fine every day of their existence.   There was nothing we could do about it, and that's the point... NJ has you between a rock and a hard place if you want to sell your house.  It is a horrible scam.  90% of all septic upgrades is a complete rip-off and everyone knows it

New Jersey, you suck!!  Good riddance...

some favorite wedding pics

Kyle and I watching the mother/son song on the big screen.  It was a most precious time!
Something I've been waiting a long time for!

The end of the song...and not wanting it to end.

So many tears, my eyes hurt the next day.

the happy groom preparing the reception

MSU Campus for the Rehearsal Dinner

 The groomsmen went early on wedding day to get the tent all ready.  It was a long day of preparations!

 Travis and Kyle

the Bridal party

a mad dash out of the rain

the proud gents

the first kiss as husband and wife

the pouring rain

Mr. and Mrs. Kyle Vegh...uh, yeah, that sounds so weird to me...

Oh, Son of Mine

Here is the song that I wrote for the Mother/Son dance at Kyle's wedding.  Ryan worked for many hours to produce something so wonderful.  So proud of all his hard work!  Thanks Ryan!!



There was a crunch on time right at the end.  Ryan was here putting some final touches on the video a few days before we presented it at the reception.

I was a little bit nervous about 250 people watching something that I wrote and sang, but I was told afterward that the entire tent was quiet while the song played... and there were many tears shed.  A lot of people came up to me to tell me how much they liked it.  I'm so glad!

This was definitely a labor of love, and I feel a little weird and relieved knowing it's done.  It was getting more and more difficult keeping it a secret from everyone for so many months.

Today we took Danny to church and then to downtown Grand Rapids for lunch.  Then we left GR and are headed back to NJ tomorrow to pack up our house and leave NJ for good.   Many waves of emotions.... We will be back to Michigan (I think) before Kyle and Hilary return from their honeymoon.